I have just come back from a little party at one of the painting professors houses, where I heard profound words of wisdom. John and the Happy Box (he's a pupeteer) was the profound ritualistic guru type, who told us that love was the key to all, and then went on to question the situation with the 9/11 tragedy and our own national reaction. He said that instead of approaching them and saying "Why did you do this?" we came with a we're going to hate you forever and an "eye for an eye" mentality. Then the painting professor followed with a comment to the effect that the most important and defining moments in our lives are the moments when we let each other down. I will leave it up to you to decide, but personally John's message was the one that spoke to me. As an archaeologist, there is a reason for everything and a reaction to every action. If we are to better understand ourselves we must understand how people react to our actions and vice versa. Yes some of the most important moments are when others let us down, but inparticularly the telling moment is in how we react to them.
